Managing Time and Attendance for Deskless Shift Workers

One of the main challenges for organizations with deskless shift workers is managing time and attendance. This blog explores how to address these challenges effectively. 

The Importance of Time and Attendance Management

Though often undervalued, time and attendance management is critical for any business. Accurately tracking employee presence directly affects productivity, ensures correct wage payments, and helps meet labor laws. Effective time and attendance management also supports operational efficiency by minimizing payroll errors, reducing time theft, and preventing compliance issues. 

This is an even greater challenge for deskless shift workers. These employees typically work in industries where precision in scheduling and time tracking is crucial, such as retail, manufacturing, healthcare, higher education, and the public sector. An effective system for managing time and attendance directly influences employee satisfaction, operational fluidity, and, ultimately, the organization’s bottom line. 

Challenges for Deskless Shift Workers

Deskless shift workers face unique challenges that can complicate time and attendance management. These employees often deal with unpredictable schedules that negatively affect their work-life balance. 

Communication breakdowns and scheduling errors are also consistent issues without efficient workforce management software. Miscommunication can lead to service gaps, overstaffing, or understaffing—compromising employee experience and customer service. Workers who struggle with getting prompt updates on shift changes and updates on leave requests have added stress. 

Furthermore, deskless shift workers often operate on varied schedules, such as swing shifts or rotating shifts, which makes time tracking essential but complex. Traditional methods like punch cards and paper forms are inefficient and prone to errors, making it hard to keep accurate records. Inaccurate time tracking can lead to disputes over pay, decreased morale, and higher turnover rates. 

By embracing modern time and attendance management solutions, organizations can mitigate these challenges. These tools facilitate real-time communication, schedule adjustments, and leave management, ensuring that deskless shift workers receive the support they need to stay engaged and productive. 

The Role of Technology in Time and Attendance Management

Technology has improved business processes worldwide, bridging systemic gaps. Despite this, many organizations still struggle with outdated, inefficient time and attendance management systems, like punch cards and paper forms.  

Communication issues, time capture errors, and problems with leave requests are significant challenges. Modern time and attendance management solutions can automate these processes, making time tracking more accurate and efficient.  

Benefits of Digitized Timesheets and Self-Service Options

Digitized timesheets present a smart option for making payroll easier. Migrating to a digital communication platform makes scheduling more streamlined. Automation within a modern time and attendance system can help with payroll, tracking wages, and organizing employee hours to ensure payroll is correct and upholds compliance requirements. 

Allowing employees to complete tasks via self-service options will enable them to access information quickly and without unnecessary overhead. Easy access to schedules, pay stubs, and paid time-off information will improve the employee experience. Employees can update information on their own in real time, saving time and extra work for both managers and employees. 

Staying Compliant 

American deskless shift workers are not covered by salary exemption directives set by the U.S. government, making adopting compliant time and attendance management tools necessary to ensure fair labor practices and correct compensation.  

Many companies in the U.S. with deskless shift workers operate on a no-work, no-pay principle, so it is crucial for their time to be tracked accurately to ensure they have been compensated accordingly. Disparities could lead to employers being accused of wage theft and diminished employee morale. Fair and predictive schedules are important to minimize fatigue risks and ensure workers are qualified to perform their job duties. 

The comprehensive WorkForce Suite addresses many of these time and attendance challenges: 

• Build and publish schedules in advance with proactive notifications when schedules are changed 
• Adhere to mandated work hour limits, rest periods, and overtime equalization policies 
• Confirm employees have the proper skills and certifications before they are assigned to a job or shift 

Why One-Size-Fits-All Solutions Fail 

While one-size-fits-all solutions are tempting, they are often counterproductive. In most cases, they do not meet the specific needs of deskless shift workers, highlighting the need for customized solutions that accommodate each worker segment. 

Deskless shift employees could work either on a typical 9-5 schedule, swing shifts, or rotating shifts, all within one organization. Keeping track of so many varied schedules, especially with a large team, can be complicated. 

Some organizations may also see product and service demands fluctuate, requiring changes in staff schedules to avoid under or overstaffing. The right digital solutions should be flexible enough to accommodate schedule changes and help decide how to achieve key performance indicators through managing staff work schedules. 

The WorkForce Suite offers solutions to support the following: 

• Templates with any pattern, duration, or shift, including those that cross midnight 
• Effective dates, so you can make and publish changes in advance 
• Multiple tasks, meals, and breaks so employees know when and where they need to be 
• The ability to assign shift patterns en masse or at the individual level 
• Allow adjustments when needed without disrupting future schedules 

Promoting Work-Life Balance 

Our research shows that 84% of employees name scheduling flexibility as important to them. However, 31% report that their companies do not offer flexible scheduling, suggesting many organizations lack the technology or resources to support it. 

Since one of the greatest challenges for deskless shift workers is a lack of flexibility, organizations that provide more flexible schedules and give employees more autonomy when managing their work schedules often see less employee burnout and attrition. A slight adjustment to accommodate a doctor’s appointment or picking up a child from school can pay off in massive dividends for worker satisfaction and employee experience. 

Workers are less likely to have unplanned absences when they can nurture both their physical and mental well-being to balance with their work schedules.  

Optimize Your Teams with WorkForce Suite: Workforce Management Integrated with Employee Experience 

In an age where seamless communication and collaboration are expected, investing in technology to unlock your employees’ potential is crucial. 

Incorporating the WorkForce Suite with time and attendance capabilities into your company processes, the organization benefits in the following areas: 

• Simplifying compliance with labor regulations, union agreements, and company policies 
• Decreasing labor costs by minimizing payroll leakage and identifying labor trends 
• Reducing unplanned overtime costs with real-time alerts 
• Improving efficiency by cutting error-prone manual processes 
• Applying gross pay calculations and attendance policies in real-time 

The Workforce Suite provides all the tools needed to effectively manage employees’ time and attendance — and help you ensure compliance, raise overall business efficiency, and enhance the overall employee experience through its set of flexible solutions. 

Let us show you how — schedule a demo today.